Sleep boosts your brain power!

Sleep boosts your brain power!

Most adults need 7-9 hours a night, but regardless of how much sleep you need, quality is far more important than quantity.

Have a relaxing bedtime routine and stick to it, even on weekends, to help regulate your body clock.

Avoid daytime power naps as they are hugely disruptive to quality night-time sleep.

The benefits of exercise cannot be overestimated. Even if you can’t fit vigorous exercise into your day, regular light exercise is better than no activity.

Darkness is a powerful cue to tell your body to rest, so eliminate as much artificial light as possible. Consider low-wattage incandescent bedside lamps. If you go to the bathroom in the night, use a nightlight instead of turning on strong, overhead lights.

Eat lightly before bed and avoid alcohol or stimulants like caffeine. Soothing drinks like camomile tea are useful for sending yourself off into a deep, restorative sleep.

Sometimes the people we live with can disrupt our sleep. Play white noise to reduce the difference between background sounds and a ‘peak’ sound like a door slamming or even the sound of the TV in a nearby room.

Certain smells encourage better sleep. Lavender, for example, has been shown to decrease heart rate and blood pressure, potentially putting you in a more relaxed state. A few lavender drops in a warm bath is an effective bedtime relaxer.

Blue light warning

Blue light given off by computer and phone screens (and interestingly energy-efficient bulbs) slows the release of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. Ideally avoid screen time an hour before bed. While this may not always be practical if you use your evenings for online study, ensuring you separate your study time and sleep with a short relaxing bedtime routine will help signal to your brain that it’s time to settle in for the night.

The Career Academy is an Accredited Training Provider with The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers. We are also an Approved Practice Entity, certified by Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand and a Xero Partner. MYOB and Reckon have certified us as an Approved Training Organisation. The International Association for Counselling has approved us as an Education Institute Member and the Institute of Hospitality formally endorses our Hospitality & Tourism courses. The International Live Events Association has accredited our Certificate in Event Management. The Career Academy has also been approved as a CPA Australia Recognised Employer Partner. Many of our courses are Internationally accredited by ICOES, the International Council for Online Educational Standards, which guarantees you a high standard of content with measurable outcomes from an ethically run training organisation. The Career Academy is Internationally Recognised by the International Accreditation & Recognition Council.